She definitely didn't get this gene from Joe.

The Nomchuays Visit

On hand to celebrate Joe's birthday, the Nomchuays came into town. My mom went to nursing school with Pa Chuen (bottom left...If you recall, Pa Chuen was holding Violet when she smiled for the first time at the hospital).


Chai and I grew up together. He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Paula. We used to see each other a few times a year when we lived on the west coast. But now that we live here, this was his first time meeting Baby V.

On Daddy's Actual Birthday Day

We went shopping! Loong Den helped Violet find the perfect snowboard. I think she likes it!


We had dinner at BJ's. Daddy and Violet shared the beer sampler.

Joe turns 30.

Being people that don't usually celebrate our birthdays, Joe had NO idea what I had in store for him. I had scheduled Aquatour for us. It's a scuba assisted snorkel at the aquarium that I work at.


Here we are, gearing up!


It pays to know people who work there :). One of my co-workers helped with picture taking while were in the water.

I talk about these animals all day long at work so it's a great experience to actually swim next to them! Some of the animals that we got to swim with were sea turtles (green and logger head), spotted eagle rays, and sharks! The blur in the water was a cownose ray.

Frogina Love

You can see that Frogina has endured some wear and tear over the past year. Violet takes her EVERYWHERE!!


Notice the edges of Frogina's eyes... Frogina is starting to look a little ghetto... Which is why Joe and I ordered Violet another one in hopes of having back-ups in case anything happens to Frogina #1.


Mimi ordered Violet another Frogina as well so our Frogina count is now up to 3. Awesome.

Rainforest Cafe

Dawn and Seth (along with Dawn's cousin and her husband) came to Orlando for the weekend. We met up for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Violet was so entertained by the animal show every 15 minutes that she eventually fell asleep holding a french fry. Do you spy the fry?

BJ comes over to spend the weekend.

Not only have Joe and I made new friends in Orlando, Benson and Skooter have made new friends as well. BJ is our neighbor Kim's dog. They went out of town for a weekend and we watched BJ. You can see that BJ fit right in.


It was a like a horizontal puppy totem pole.

Baby V's Favorite Corner in our Bedroom

As soon as she opens the bedroom door, Violet will say hello and then immediately run to this corner and climb on and off the box that my laptop came in. She can spend up to 10 minutes just walking on and off the box.

Uncle Den comes for a visit.

After seeing Violet climb into the wicker basket and hearing the story of how Cookie and Kookik played with her, Uncle Den played with Violet.


She's insane. She loves crazy things.

Blabla Dolls

Frogina came first. After her 1st birthday, we bought her Chester.

Blizzard Beach

In an attempt to escape the never-ending winters in Maine and to celebrate her birthday, Shayna came down to Orlando. We spent a day at Disney's Blizzard Beach. It was Violet's first time at a water park and I honestly didn't know if she would love it or hate it.


She LOVED it. She's a like fish... that can't swim.


She also loves sand.


Note the scraped knee. Violet discovered the many properties of water. Her favorite property was water's ability to make things slippery. Upon discovering this marvel wonder, she proceeded to run through the water, land on her knees and slide. Thus, scraped up bloody knees.

It's Getting Hot Hot Hot!

In an attempt to beat the burning Florida rays (and not drown Violet), I found a splash pool that we could set up in our backyard. It's awesome.

Last Day in the States

We went to Downtown Disney on their last day in the States. Violet fell asleep while the girls got their faces painted. Needless to say, you can read Violet's thoughts by the look on her face. WTF?

Violet's First Headbutt Victim

Note the busted bottom lip. It's a beaut!

Violet at the Commuity Park

She loves the water.


I think that Violet is cursing at the water for disappearing.


Oh! There it is!

One of their favorite days was at the community park.

A few miles away from our Orlando house, there is a brand new community park. It has a dog park, a playground, and a water park!! On one of the days that the "adults" went shopping, I took the girls for a day of fun in the sun.

During their visit...

My family from Thailand was here for about two and a half weeks. Since my mom, Violet, and I had just left Thailand a few weeks prior to their arrival, Violet was VERY excited to see my two young cousins again. My two young cousins couldn't have been happier entertaining Violet, which in turn made me the happiest of all.

One of their favorite activities with Violet was to put her in the toy wicker basket and swing her from side to side. It's been almost two months now and Violet still climbs into the basket. I know Violet misses them.


One day, we went to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). I wasn't entirely sold on how Violet would react because the theme park had a bunch of shows... I was very excited when Violet LOVED all of the shows and stayed really quiet and alert for everything.

Here is a picture of Kookik, Cookie, Na Kai, and Violet waiting for the Playhouse Disney Show.

She gets grilled...

Celebrating our new grill and new company (my family from Thailand had just arrived around late March) Uncle Den decided that it was time to grill the baby... Of course she had to be grilled with Frogina (her favorite stuffed animal).

She walks!

The day before we left for our trip to Boca Grande (Thursday, March 19th), Baby V finally became a toddler. She started walking!! For real walking, none of that walking a few steps and fall flat on her face stuff. We're talking the real deal now.

I came home from work and Baby V, eer, I mean, Toddler V saw me and walked down the hallway to greet me. You know, just like she had been walking her entire life. I was floored. I couldn't believe how fast it took for her to go from fumbling walking to REALLY walking.

Finn who had been walking for a while by that point (at least a month), had been having all the walking fun. Now Toddler V could join in as well.




She was getting into everything.


Finley tried to make the Butler Frog work a little harder by adding on some extra weight to his tray.


Violet got curious to Uncle Bo was microwaving. Turkey bacon?


Exploration is fun.